1,448 stories by "Peter Filichia"
When producers of American and British musicals book a theater in Amsterdam, Theatre Carre is their first choice. The three-balcony, eight-chandeliered house is where popular hits go to thri…
So you think that the first "so-bad-it's-good" musical was The Rocky Horror Show?
A case can be made for a very different property: Say, Darling.
Truth to tell, Say, Darling was less of a …
This winter, when I heard Barry Manilow sing "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" from the stage of the St. James, I realized that this song was now being performed in two Broadway theaters.
Is anyone on the Northeast Corridor planning to present JEKYLL & HYDE? If so, don’t hesitate to contact Donald J. Simon. The president of the International JEKYLL & …
My buddy Ingrid Gammerman has told me that she does it. So has my pal Donald Tesione. On occasion, I've done it, too.
That is, play a cast album on the precise night of an all-star concert …
I'm glad to be back in my hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts to see SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM at the local community theater. Granted, you may giggle a bit when you hear the official nam…
Things are coming along nicely for the Broadway revival of the 1975 musical Good Time Charley. And as you've certainly heard, for the last few weeks the production's powers-that-be have been…
On Wednesday, April 8, 1964, Variety told me that Anyone Can Whistle had opened the previous Saturday to three raves and three pans. I'd never seen such an extreme split from the New York ne…
It only ran 63 days in 2002, but THE LAST FIVE YEARS has lasted far longer than the last 11 years. Jason Robert Brown's musical, which has had countless productions around the country, is no…
A bit more than 60 years ago, a musical called "Wish You Were Here" opened to mostly terrible reviews. The future looked bleak, but then director Josh Logan decided to return to the show and…
Were you among the many who'd planned to go see Betty Buckley do Dear World in London " only to find the show had shuttered earlier than expected?
"I'm not surprised," says my buddy Steven…
It was the month in which Breakfast at Tiffany's began performances on the 4th - which meant that by March 8th, after it had played five previews, it had already outrun the 1966 musical vers…
Audiences love when a character makes a fast costume change. If it happens with enough speed, they almost feel as if they're getting two characters for the price of one. That opportunity ari…
Have you been wondering why the National Collegiate Athletic Association nicknames its annual basketball tournament "March Madness" when the tournament heats up in April? Or why CBS calls it…
Wish I could remember the precise story I was telling my buddy Bob Burger at the opening night party of the York's Starting Here, Starting Now. The point of it was that I was in a situation …
When my New Jersey travels took me to Plays in the Park in Edison for Nunsense, I was overwhelmed by the power-packed performance of Susan Speidel " and told the director afterward. "Oh, yes…
While basketball fans of Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland are moaning and mourning that their team didn't make the 68-team NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament " and adherents of the chosen Boise…
Her name was Stella. She was a heavy-set girl who was a techie in the high school drama club for which I was an advisor. Between scenes of every show, you could see, if you looked carefully …
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Patti LuPone," says the lady to the packed house - with an as-if-you-didn't-know tone to her voice.
Next Sunday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's "March Madness" will officially begin. We'll know which sixty-eight teams will play for the 2013 NCAA's men's basketball champions…
If you do PASSION correctly " meaning the way that Stephen Sondheim envisioned it " your audience will applaud only once the entire night. That will happen at the end of the show, after the …
March is coming in like a lion for Rodgers and Hammerstein. When most people think of Dick and Ockie, they recall their 11 musical properties (or at least five of them). Many may not know or…
As I wrote last week, if college basketball can have "March Madness," so can musical theater.
My column of February 26 stated that aficionados should spend March going delightfully mad. Eac…
It's never been produced on Broadway and its London production was short-lived. But these facts haven't kept one theater after another from doing CHILDREN OF EDEN. Here in Watertown, Massach…
It was the month that I attended The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for the seventh time - and I've still yet to be in the right place to catch any one of the Fritos, M&M's, Oreos, b…
